Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s I have seen a drastic change in the modern day Video game industry.

As a young child of course I had the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

I loved it. Mario was the one game that had me occupied on weekends and it seemed amazing at the time. Cartridge gaming was still very revolutionary and seemed almost futuristic to so many people. But the inability to save was actually aggravating. As a child I didn’t have a wide variety of choices for games because I had my NES for so Long.

Then I bought the PlayStation. This console was the leader in the forefront on what was to become the first but largest Console War. Nintendo was originally creating their newest console in a joint project with Sony but dropped the project and released the N64. Sony at first did not want to get into Home Personal Entertainment but this pushed many leaders at Sony over and pushed to release the first CD gaming platform. EVERYTHING changed at this point. Sega attempted to hold up with the Dreamcast but eventually failed. Though the Dreamcast was an innovator with some of the first 3D graphics of the time.

With the Playstation at the top with the most powerful console at the time Nintendo started a new project and Sony did as well. This is the technilogical revolution of the early 2000’s. Microsoft joined the two companies Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo released the Gamecube, in my opinion the Gamecube having the mini disk DVD was a HUGE mistake. The Gamecube fell behind in the war.

Sony’s PlayStation 2 began strong and showed great promise to push ahead of all others but Microsofts Xbox would prove that this wasn’t a two console war dominated by one anymore. The big three went at it head to head and gave a high standard showing of technologies newest standard of one upping the competition. The Gamecube started to fall behind as it became known as “the family friendly console” Sony and Microsoft warred but eventually it looked like Microsoft had the better console with Xbox Live and better multiplayer games. Thought in my opinion the Metal Gear Solid games kept the PS2 alive with innovation of graphics and the overall story aspect of gaming. With games like Grand Theft Auto and many other games going multiplatform the Next Gen Consoles would show what consoles Developers would become loyal to with capability.

The Next Gen Era. This is the time of the biggest change. The Big Three made the unveilment of their newest consoles at e3 2005. Microsoft being the First to release the Xbox360 gained a slight advantage but at the same time a slight disadvantage with hardware bugs. The 360 gained a huge Lead on Nintendo’s Wii and an even bigger lead on Sony’s PlayStation 3 which seemed remarkably late to start the running. Each console brought huge changes but two console inparticular brought the most revolutionary.

Nintendo’s introduction of the Wii was greatly anticipated by many different styles of gamer, but still appeared to be leaning more towards the mainstream, laid-back gamer. With the childish looks it pushed many “hardcore gamers” away but the Wii had something the others had yet to bring. Full ability to download past and present games through Nintendo’s Wifi and the Motion Control. This along with a very light price tag allowed Nintendo to show that they were still a force to be reckoned with in The Big Three.

Sony unveiled a new type of disk with the PS3 The BluRay Disk. a seeminly unmatchable amount of High Definition High Quality Storage with unbelievable visuals. With the ability to have multiple layers of information along with the power of the PlayStation 3 Sony seemed to be able to knock everyone away with the hardware and software capability of their newest creation. But when everyone was expecting Sony to come through. They were no where to be found. The PS3 having an extremely late start disappointed many but there were large number still waiting for the previewed games that were shown at E3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Resistance Fall of Man, and many more were just some of the most powerful titles being shown. Along with the PlayStation Network being Free made a huge hit on Microsofts Xbox Live.

All of which I have stated is an Amateur View of the Technological Revolution that has Ensued over the past 17 years of my life and even without the Ownership of a Next-Gen Console I can say that this is a very Brief but accurate overview of the past couple years.